Guitars
by Saberpilot
Summary: Naota decides that he's going to go off to find the love that ran off years ago. Haruko hears rumors of a Terran with a Vespa. Pirate Kings, Robots, and Randomness the size of Mechanica's Iron. Can these two ever get together? (COMPLETE!)
1. Renegades of Funk

Saberpilot's A/N: This is the first FLCL fic I've ever written. This was an idea that kept spinning around inside my head thanks to the muses that never shut up *O.O* (stares at Genesis and Verdell, who whistle innocently when stared at).   
  
I'm basing this fic more off the manga than the television series, just to let readers know. Most of the plot is the same, but there may be some tidbits that are confusing if you haven't read. ^_^  
  
Anyways, please read/review and let me know what you think.   
  
Oh, and I don't own FLCL. Only Gainax can claim that. *bows to the great animation company that is Gainax*  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
They told me I'd never make it out this far. Things were too strange out in space, they said. Too many things could go wrong, too many passports, weapons, lasers, sex, drugs, crazy people driving with space guitars...  
  
Plus there was the fact that I was riding into space on a Vespa.  
  
It wasn't just anyone's Vespa, though- they didn't seem to get it. It was Haruko-san's Vespa, slim and yellow coated with its P-chan symbol on the side.  
  
It had been hers, once, and now it was mine. At least, I thought it was mine. That's what her superior had told me when she'd come to visit me.  
  
And kiss me while my arms were tied behind my back.   
  
I remembered the day I'd decided to leave. I'd walked over to Canti and told him flat out I was going in search of Haruko. The robot had merely looked at me with that empty television screen of a face, then went about his normal duties as if I'd said nothing. Beating that rug without even showing one emotion, not caring if I left.  
  
Stupid robot.  
  
Father had been the most emotional of everyone I'd spoken to. He'd sat me down and had a talk. My brown hair hid half of my view of the skinny, skimpy man. I can still remember it...  
  
"So... you're going off to find Haruko-san?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"And what will you do when you find her? Kiss her? Grope her? Smell the delicious flesh that is woman? Lick her up and down and make sweet furi kuri with her, knowing that you'll never be enough for her?"  
  
"Da-"  
  
"I tried to be enough of a man for her, Ta-kun. But I wasn't- I wasn't able to transport or do anything. We made sweet love- the eggs were delicious whenever we shared them, and- oh! The days of ice cream and chocolate- In short, son, you may want to be Haruko-san's man, but the truth is if I was no more use as a robot than a-"  
  
"Dad, I'm going, no matter what you say. I loved Haruko-san."  
  
"But what about your brother, Naota? And school? And baseball? And Mamimi? The girl whose parents are... what would you say? Estranged?"  
  
"Leave Mamimi out of this. She has nothing to do with this- God! I'm going off to find Haruko so that she and I-"  
  
"And why would she love you, you pirate king? Would she want to stay and... nap with you?"  
  
"I'm leaving."  
  
The more I thought about the conversation, the more I realized that father had been more like me than I wanted to think about- and yet he wasn't. He'd never be able to play on a souped up strapless like he was- whereas I never hit a foul ball anymore. They were always left into center field.  
  
Grandfather had probably been the most understanding of my family. He merely nodded, then handed me a box of children's mild curry. I laughed, then hugged the man. He, of all people, seemed to understand. Not saying a word, he walked off after that, heading towards the Mechanical plant. I don't know what happened after that, as I had already started packing.  
  
Grandpa's mild curry, a few of my old magazines that Mamini would have found absolutely wonderful to feed to the fire, and a couple of loaves of old bread. My savings of 50,000 yen. And of course, the guitar.   
  
I had smiled whenever I picked up that old thing. It was the one thing that Haruko-san had left for me. Beautiful. I plucked a few chords, grinning, then shook my head. No way would I pack this beauty away.   
  
It was going to travel on my back in style.  
  
A few minutes later, I headed out the door, not realizing that a set of eyes were on me as I put my baggage into the storage compartment of the yellow Vespa. After placing them in, I finally felt that burning sensation that accompanies someone's eyes staring into you.  
  
"You're leaving."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Mamimi stood behind me, watching as I continued prepping for my journey.   
  
"Will you come back?"  
  
I stopped, midway into checking the spark plug in the engine. I sighed, then turned to face her. Although several years had passed between then and now, I could still see those small doe-like eyes searching into my soul.  
  
"I don't know. I have to find Haruko-san."  
  
A pause. "Why? There's things for you here-"  
  
"There's nothing for me here if Haruko-san isn't here."  
  
"There's me."  
  
Another pause. Damn it, why'd she have to be so roundabout in her feelings? Just yell at me. Spit at me. Curse me. It'd make you feel a lot better rather than just standing there on the corner, wearing that accursed leather jacket.  
  
I sighed. "But my heart doesn't belong to you."  
  
"Takkun-"   
  
I shut my eyes, remembering the word coming from the lips of a woman with wild auburn hair. It did nothing for me now, coming from Mamimi. I opened my eyes, looking at her. Really looking at her.  
  
After her parents' divorce, she'd been almost clinging to my side. Everywhere I'd go, anything I'd do, she'd hang around, watching my every step, biting her lip and hanging on every word I spoke. It was almost as if I had a puppy dog following me around... one that no matter how many times you kicked it in the ribs, it still followed you around with unshaking loyalty.  
  
"Mamimi... you know I've told you this again and again. I- I can't. I can't be with you. We could try, and I could whisper sweet nothings into you ear, make love to you... but it would all be a lie. The most I could ever feel for you is brotherly love."  
  
Turning back to the Vespa, I ran a few last-minute checks. The spark plug was perfect, and the coils seemed to be in perfect condition. I smiled, then walked over to look at the braking system. I sighed, realizing that the Vespa was in perfect condition, even after all the years that I'd had it.  
  
"Are you just going to ignore me?"   
  
"Maybe it'd be good if you just went home," I told her, continuing to check the engine and brakes.  
  
I don't know when she eventually did leave, but when she was gone, I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders. I smiled and stood up, inspecting my handiwork, then strided across the leather seat cushion. I smiled, feeling the familiar creases go against my backside. The last time I'd ridden this scooter, it'd been with Haruko.   
  
Smiling, I reached out and grabbed the handlebars. Their rubbery grips felt rough underneath my hands, but I really couldn't have cared less. To me, they felt like freedom.   
  
I kick-started the engine, and smiled to hear its all-too-familiar rumbling beneath my body. It had definately been too long. I turned the Vespa towards the road, and pushed off the pavement.   
  
Moments later I was on the road. I looked at the controls, and found the one for 'airlift'. Seconds later, I was sky-high, floating towards the stars in the galaxy. Not that I thought they were pretty or anything, just... they were out there, and each one seemed to twinkle at me, reminding me of why I was going.  
  
Haruko-san.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
"They say that someone else is out there driving a yellow Vespa, Haruko."  
  
"Ah?"  
  
The redheaded woman raised an eyebrow while picking her nose. "An' that should mean what to me?"  
  
"It wasn't another Space Force person who was driving. They say it was an Earthling from the Medical Mechanica region."  
  
"Is that so?" She stopped picking her nose and instead, went about picking her food with a two-pronged utensil.  
  
"Didn't you say you fell in love with one of those creatures?"  
  
"Ah?" The beads of rice met her mouth, and the green-eyed woman began to chew, at first with vigor, then swallowing. Seconds later, she was downing the whole liter of green liquid in front of her.  
  
"Told you not to eat that spicy curry."  
  
"Michiru-san-"  
  
"Don't you even want to see if that person with the yellow Vespa is him? Maybe he's come for you after all these years."  
  
The woman clanked her glass down on the table, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Who? Takkun?" She looked over towards the window of the diner where the two were eating. She then jerked away from it pointedly, and placed her fist to her chin.  
  
"You miss him."  
  
"Eh."  
  
"Haruko, you can't keep hiding forever. The Space forces will eventually catch up to you. The least you can do is make good of the time you have left until you do."  
  
"I've been running for years now."  
  
"That's why we're here."  
  
"Michiru, can we go somewhere more... private?"  
  
"I thought you'd never ask."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
It's funny, space. You'd think that just because there's no air, you wouldn't be able to breathe. All these crazy scientists and teachers tell you that there's no way, that your head will pop or explode or break into a thousand pieces.  
  
Then again, these were people who hadn't met Haruko. Didn't know that the impossible was possible.  
  
Or that robots could come out of peoples' heads.  
  
The stars seemed to have been made from a child's construction paper cutouts; I reached out and touched one while I was riding and it seemed earthereal to me- I could feel the small fibers of the paper rubbing against my palm.  
  
I slept, I sang, I thrilled to the ride that the Vespa gave me. Although I'd never made love to any girl, I imagined sometimes while riding that this-this speed, this motion, this rhythmn is what made people soon and fall in love. And other times, if I closed my eyes and imagined hard enough... I could feel her arms around me, exactly as they'd been years ago.  
  
The only thing that reminded me that this space, these surroundings of mine, were not fake, was the beating of my heart, and the rumblings of my stomach.  
  
It got to a point some time from then- I don't know how long, since in space there are no days or nights- that my stomach felt as though it would eat itself if it could.  
  
And knowing how much I had a tendency for the eccentric, I didn't want to try the idea.  
  
Not only was I hungry, but the Vespa was running out of fuel. I leaned forward on its handlebars, my exhaustion taking over where my common sense had been.   
  
Haruko...  
  
I lifted up my head, staring at the endless void I was now in. If I concentrated hard enough, I could see her gloved hand outstretched towards me, her other hand holding the guitar strapped to her back.   
  
My guitar. My back.  
  
I fell asleep that way, holding out with my very last piece of strength, hoping and praying that somehow... somehow I'd find her.  
  
My last thought before I passed out was of the first time she'd hit me with her Vespa, and how painful it'd been.   
  
Sweet memories- Haruko...  
  
********  
  
"Is he dead?"  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"You want to kick him and find out?"  
  
"Sounds good to me."  
  
A sharp thrust to my ribs made me groan and curl up in pain. I blinked, an image of a red circle flashing before my eyes before I could open them completely. I put a hand against my rib cage and held it there, the feeling as though a thousand needles had been pushed in pulsing underneath it.  
  
"Apparently he isn't dead. Told you so."  
  
"Shut up, you."  
  
"Wh... who are you?" I blinked, letting the ray of light that was now in front of my eyes become comfortable to them. A minute later, the two gray shapes in front of me had evolved into two humanoid figures, the light still blinding me as to their identities.  
  
"It can speak basic?"  
  
"Apparently."  
  
"Huh. Human, you think?"  
  
"Probably."  
  
"Who... who are you?" I said again, my voice gaining strength. The two figures looked towards each other, and then the other smiled. It kneeled down to face me, and suddenly my vision was overtaken by a pair of yellow eyes.  
  
"Can speak basic. I was right, Elsar." Purple hair swayed slightly as the person seemed to inspect me visually, moving on seconds later to inspect me... physically. My eyes bulged out of my head as I felt a warm presence run down the back of my neck, my spine, and then quickly... grab my butt.  
  
"He-hey!" I hoarsely coughed out. The yellow eyes blinked, and I saw a smile.   
  
"Don't get all excited. I was just making sure you weren't tagged by Mechanica, rock star." I felt that same warm presence suddenly run towards my hips, and there was strength behind it, pulling me forward. Moments later, I sat up, facing the person I'd seen before, as well as the one it had called Elsar.  
  
"Sorry about the rough handling there," the other one said, grinning behind a set of green bangs. "You can never be too careful out here in the wild zone."  
  
"W-wild zone?"  
  
"Don't you know anything, Vespa boy?" the violet-haired one asked. "The wild zone is the place that the Pirate King and the Space forces had their last great battle. It turned planet Izumi into this space dust you see around here. Not worth much except for maybe expanding your soul for a few hours."  
  
"Expanding your... what?"  
  
"Damn kids from Earth don't know anything. I thought our agents told us that they were more intelligent than that."  
  
"Elsar!"  
  
I inhaled deeply, snorting the air... or whatever I was breathing out quickly. My head suddenly felt light-headed, and I saw the two people standing in front of me, their colors inverted and skewed. I held my own hand out in front of me, watching the greens and oranges dance around in circles.  
  
I looked up at the two people again, and realized that the one woman now appeared as though she had red hair and green eyes. I gasped in recognition and held out my still-swirling hand out towards her, trying to reach across the eons.  
  
Somewhere, someone played a B rip.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Well? What do you think? Like/hate? Review & Let me know- I reply/respond to most of my comments as long as I have some way to contact you, so feel free to be honest! ^_^ I love constructive criticism!  
  
^_^ ~Saberpilot 


	2. Otherside

A/N: Well, I'm glad that some of you are enjoying this so far. And if you think that the last chapter was a trip *giggles at comment about Takkun's 'tripping'*, get ready, because it's not over yet. ^_^  
  
Oh, and before I forget, I don't own FLCL. Because only Gainax can claim that. _  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
No one ever gives you a guide whenever you come into this world about what you're supposed to do with your life. My classmates often told me there should have been an exception in my case, since my head was already as blank as they come.  
  
They didn't know how right they'd been.  
  
I now sat across from the green and violet haired beings named Elsar and... well, actually, I didn't know her name. They'd told me how they'd found me skimming the waters of unconciousness in the Wild Zone, and how they'd wanted to make sure I was alive before they stole my Vespa.  
  
I was glad they hadn't stolen it.  
  
"A Vespa, huh? And a space-faring one at that. That mustn't have come from Earth, did it?" the yellow-eyed person asked. I call them... person, because I simply couldn't figure out whether they were male or female; certainly the name 'Elsar' wasn't gendered enough for me to be able to tell.  
  
"I don't know," I said, not wanting to reveal anything.  
  
"Don't know, huh?" Elsar-person said.  
  
"He said he doesn't know."  
  
"Think he can lie?"  
  
"If he's lying, he's not good at it."  
  
"Must be tough, being a Terran-"  
  
"There's nothing wrong with being from Earth," I retorted, crossing my arms. I stared back at them with slight disgust.   
  
Yellow eyes. "Definately not from Earth. Who gave you that Vespa, kid?"   
  
"I'm not a kid. I'm eighteen."  
  
"Eighteen Terran years. That's equivalent to about fifteen standard out here. You're still a kid. So, who gave you the Vespa?"  
  
"Eighteen's eighteen no matter where you go," I said, looking outside the nearby window. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm. I blinked, then looked to see the green-haired Elsar-person smiling at me gently.  
  
"Don't be scared. We won't hurt you. We're just looking for someone... and that someone went to Earth a while ago. Maybe about four to six of your Earth years?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
Elsar looked at the yellow-eyed girl and then sighed. "Our older sister."  
  
"Sister? Hakuro had-"  
  
"So you have seen her! I KNEW that was her Vespa. How'd you get it, kid? Did you know her? When did you last-" Suddenly Elsar laughed and let go of my arm. "I'm sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Elsar."  
  
The yellow eyed person with violet hair smiled. "And I'm Taika. We've been looking for our sister for the last seven standard years. She's our older sister."  
  
"Are you..." I pointed at both of them, then raised an eyebrow. "Are you her... um..." I struggled with my word choice as I tried to find out their gender, the very not-obvious knowledge still puzzling me. "Sisters? I mean, are you- uhh..." I bit my lip, nervous at the idea of asking.  
  
"You're right, we're sisters. Sorry, we still have our guitar straps on. If we don't, we'd get hit on by the wrong men."  
  
"Wrong men? Guitar straps?" I was fairly confused by this point.  
  
"You know, guitar straps?" Elsar said, leaning forward towards me. I blinked, shaking my head. "Guitar straps, thong picks, rock bands?" I shook my head again. Elsar looked over at Taika, and winked, then proceeded to pull me forward against the table. Seconds later, I opened my eyes into a large amount of flesh. I blinked, then realized I was looking down into a set of...  
  
"AHHH!!" I tried to push myself away, my face red as an overripe tomato. As I writhed against the grasp of the two voluminous orbs that hung in front of me, then realized that they were... condensed.  
  
Elsar giggled. She pushed me back into my seat. "Terran boy, all right. But not as turned on as you should be. Eighteen, huh? Shouldn't you be busy making furi kuri with the girl who rubs your back? Rubbing your face in her bosom?"  
  
My face turned even redder. "Um... well, I- uh-"  
  
"Don't tell me you came out here to find a girl because all the ones on Earth are taken?"  
  
Taika shoved her sister playfully on the shoulder and winked. "They can't all be taken. After all, they'd have to leave some for us, hmm?"  
  
I blinked. "But- what-"  
  
Suddenly Elsar giggled. "I think I finally get it. Earth. We traced Haruko's journey to Earth that one time. What do you want to bet that this kid here is the one we heard about in Mechanica's records?"  
  
"What the hell-How am I in their records?" I spat out, not choosing my words correctly at all. I realized my mistake as the green and violet haired girls giggled at each other.  
  
"Naota-chan wants to make sweet furi kuri with Haruko-san."  
  
"Rubbing up and down, circling each other-"  
  
"Grasping at things usually unseen-"  
  
I stood up, resulting in the backs of my calves to feel as though they'd had a guitar pick strung up them thanks to my chair. "I do not want to make furi kuri with Haruko! I just want- I just-"  
  
"You just... what?" Taika asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I bit my lower lip, and it trembled like a cymbal.   
  
"I... I love her."  
  
"And you think you'll have a chance at finding her? You, on your little Vespa? You, who doesn't know the slightest thing about rock'n'roll even though you carry around that guitar strapped to your back?" Elsar said, giving me a questioning glance. It was then that my heart nearly broke, because when I looked upon her, my tears made her colors invert, leaving behind my beloved Haruko.  
  
"I don't care if I don't know about rock'n'roll. I only care about Haruko."  
  
"Think we should help him?" Taika.  
  
"Don't know. He might be able to lead us to her."  
  
"Wait- if he's the kid from Mechanica, then do you think he-"  
  
Suddenly, both girls looked at me with slitted eyes and half-smirks. One of them picked up a fork, while the other picked up a knife.  
  
"What- what are you two doing? Wha-"  
  
I didn't say much more as I felt a rush of metal crash against my forehead. My arms felt eagle-spread as I was forced to lay against the floor, my chair being the only thing that kept my legs dangling over it.   
  
Space and time seemed to melt into one as I felt a long-dead sensation whirl into my head. I closed my eyes.  
  
I hoped it was cooler than Canti.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
"That was nice, Michiru."  
  
"Of course. I was there," the other person said to the redhead. Haruko smiled as she stared up into the abyss of the stars, not quite able to, but willing herself to pull herself deeply into its disorganized slapstick mess.  
  
And to just look at the stars, damnit.  
  
"Do you really think he's... nevermind."  
  
"You miss him. You should go back to Earth."   
  
"I don't miss anything, Michiru. You know that better than anyone."  
  
"I also know you're the worst liar."  
  
"...so kill me." The redhead laid back onto the cement playground outside the station, her white-gloved hands behind her head. Smiling and nodding, she pulled her v-guitar from behind her neck and proceeded to pluck a few strings.  
  
  
  
The stars were bright tonight. And yet, Haruko was struck by the paleness of their white light. It reminded her of curry. Spicy curry...  
  
"Damn it. I haven't thought about him in years, so why am I now?"  
  
"Because you loved him."  
  
"Then why would I forget him?"  
  
"You didn't forget him. You forgot yourself, Haruko."  
  
"I wish..." She closed her green eyes and started to hum a few notes. Suddenly, the metal on her right arm bracelet started to move slightly. She stopped humming, and held out her arm in front of her face.  
  
"Wha-"  
  
A feeling pulled her eyes away from her wrist and towards the expanse of universe in front of her. Her eyes widened as she was pulled towards the stars, her body not responding.   
  
The colors seemed to sparkle and reflect around her, trying to draw her attention away from the main stage, but Haruko kept her focus on the event before her.   
  
Lights twisted and writhed with their beams, producing a stage scene never before witnessed. The music started to come into her ears, and Haruko grinned, shaking her head with the music, her heart beating in tune. The chords and strings were perfect, the rifts were wonderful, and the drums just kept in time perfectly.  
  
Suddenly Haruko was pulled closer to the stage, and she saw the lead guitarist plucking the chords while he bounced against the air. She reached out with a white glove to touch him, only realizing that her gloves were off... that her arms were completely naked save for the metal bracelet on her right arm.   
  
The metal trinket kept pulling her towards the guitarist, and Haruko looked at it, then back at the guitarist. She peered, trying to see the young man more closely.  
  
Familiar dark brown hair yelled at her, and a set of strong, lithe arms struggled to reach her as they continued to play a beautiful scale of flats and sharps on the guitar. The guitar...  
  
It screamed her name. Haruko reached towards it, and suddenly the guitarist stopped playing. Haruko's expression grew with amazement as she yearned to see his face.  
  
Eons later, he started to lift up his head to hers...  
  
Haruko blinked, only to find herself staring at her arm and bracelet once more. She sat up, then thought a moment before standing. Michiru grinned, shaking her head.   
  
"What is it, rocker girl?"  
  
"Time for another world tour, Michiru-san. Only this one will be stellar. I've got to go find my lead guitarist."  
  
"I thought you'd feel that way. Take my Vespa."  
  
"But Michiru-"  
  
"It's not tracked, not like your Space forces one was." A pair of keys flew up into the air, Haruko catching them with a gloved hand. The redhead turned to give her companion a smirk before heading towards the edge of the parking lot universe, striding away.   
  
Michiru grinned, then licked her paw and stared up at the sky.  
  
It was funny, sometimes. Haruko didn't even seem to realize why she was so drawn to Earth and its ways, even why she'd been drawn to that stupid Pirate king.  
  
Damn Terrans. Didn't even realize that they were more special than they thought they were. Michiru only prayed that Haruko realized the truth before it was too late.  
  
If she didn't... well, the universe had survived one big bang before. And it was getting kind of horny.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
"Haruko-" I whispered as soon as I came to. I looked around myself, then realized I was nowhere near the restraunt I'd just been in. Silver walls surrounded me, and When I focused a bit more, I could make out three distinct shapes against the grayness.   
  
I blinked, releasing wetness and crumbs from their captivity in my eyes. Taika and Elsar sat next to a-   
  
A robot. Another shit-ass robot. I reached up and felt my forehead. Eyebrows still there. Good.  
  
I focused. The robot looked nothing like Canti had- it was green, first off, and short. Very short. Maybe about two feet high, at most. It had a set of- what looked like three-pronged arms, and bent legs. Wait- not bent. Kneeled. Screw the thought about this robot being short.   
  
It would at least be tall as those two wierdo sisters of Haruko's.  
  
"He's awake."  
  
"What I heard was right. You definately ARE a man, Naota."  
  
"You called me that earlier. How do you know my name if I never told you?"  
  
"This-" Elsar said, winking and pulling out my wallet, showing me my driver's license and all the other plastic, non-important items I'd brought along. I sighed.   
  
"Can I have that back, please?"  
  
"Hmm. No. They make too good of frisbees."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"Nope. Besides, Beeta here seems to like them to eat. Don't you, Beeta-chan?"  
  
"Beeta?"   
  
Taika leaned her head against the green robot, smiling and rubbing her head against it affectionately. "Yes. Beeta. My new best friend. After all, you already have one, so why shouldn't we?"  
  
"Because it's my head? And the only one allowed to beat me up is-" I choked for a minute, then continued- "Haruko."  
  
"Masochist."  
  
"No. Just the woman I loved is the only one allowed."  
  
"Sounds like a childhood issue to me." Elsar said, closing one eye and inspecting me. "So. What are you going to do now?"  
  
"Pray that you won't pull anything else out of my forehead."  
  
"No. I mean about Haruko-san."  
  
"I'm going to do what I first set out to do- find her."  
  
"And why do you think you'll have more luck than ourselves?" Taika asked me, watching as Beeta looked at her three-pronged hands with her television screened face. I stood up and walked towards one of the walls, trying to find an exit, when I suddenly realized- there was no exit. I turned to the two girls.  
  
"Where the hell are we?"  
  
"The Space forces finally caught up to us. While Beeta was coming from the void inside your empty brain, they teleported us here."  
  
"Where's my-" I felt my back and realized that my guitar- Haruko's guitar- was gone. "where the HELL is my guitar?"  
  
"We don't know," Taika said. "We thought you might. But I guess not."  
  
"My Vespa gone too?"  
  
Elsar nodded.   
  
"Shit. How am I supposed to find Haruko now?" I slammed my fist against the silver ground, and watched the blood spew from my knuckles. I held my bloodied appendage up against my lips, and smiled at how tantilizing the liquid smelled. Grinning, I licked it with my tongue... Then opened my eyes wide in shock.  
  
"What. The. HELL. What the hell possessed me to do that?"  
  
Elsar grinned and looked at Taika, then back at me, an eyebrow raised. "They warned you before you left, Terran. Sex, Drugs, Rock'n'Roll. Welcome to space, Rock star. These things corrupt you. And it looks like space is starting to get to you already."  
  
I started to hypervenilate, staring at my still-bleeding hand in horror. "This... this is why Haruko was the way she was? Space... does this to you?"  
  
"Space, and rock does it to you. Frees your mind, your soul, your spirit. And doesn't it feel good?" Taika asked, rubbing her head affectionately against Beeta's television head. She then proceeded to lick the side of the monitor with her tongue, and looked at me as a cat does a bowl of cream.  
  
Cat. Memories of the cat I used to have at home before a certain father of mine ran over it with his truck while delivering his hentai magazines everywhere.  
  
Father. Grandpa. Mamimi.   
  
I blinked, and realized that Taika was now sitting in front of me, in a rather... seductive position. A part of me long asleep suddenly awoke to life, and I felt warmth spread across it. I bit my lip as I fought the emotions that went with the feeling.  
  
"Want to have some fun, Rock star?" Elsar giggled in the background, and licked her lips. I shuddered, and crawled back away from the green-haired girl still advancing towards me.  
  
"Haruko-"  
  
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Well? What do you think? ^_^ R/R. Oh, and btw- just like our beloved FLCL- this isn't supposed to make any sense. Or at least, I don't think it was supposed to. Or at least... it will. Eventually. After many pints. ^_~ 


	3. Bohemian Rhapsody

A/N: Well, we're in for one hell of a ride. This marks the third of six chapters to this story. Why six, you may ask? Don't ask me, ask my Muses. *glares at Genesis and Verdell*   
  
Genesis: It wasn't my fault, Saber. Verdell said it was very artistic to do it in six chapters as an original homage to the series.  
  
Verdell: *_* YOU were the one who said that it'd be a good homage- and that it'd be better than Saber pulling one of her five-or-fifteen bits.   
  
Genesis: ....  
  
A/N: In any case, please read the following chapter and let me know what you think. Or Genesis just might get the idea that she needs to emulate Haruko-san in her guitar bashing... ^_~  
  
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Stupid Ta-kun. Why the hell had he come for her, in the deep recesses of space? She still couldn't solve the unsolveable problem, the hypothesis that had no answer. No matter that she was older than the stupid kid.   
  
Good thing he liked older women, she thought.  
  
The Vespa Michiru had loaned her was just as reliable as she'd claimed it to be. There was no problems with the engine, steering, or anything else, for that matter. It was completely windstreamed to the point of hilarity- Haruko couldn't find a single flaw on the entire machine.   
  
"Ta-" Suddenly the red-haired woman placed a hand on her forehead. What the hell was she thinking? She was in love with the pirate king- wasn't she? WASN'T SHE?  
  
Suddenly, Haruko felt a pull on her right hand, and she looked down at her wrist to see the familiar rectangle shape pulling against her wrist once more. It was pulling her towareds space somewhere... somewhere she didn't even know.  
  
Damn Terran. Couldn't do anything right. Couldn't even get out of her head when she wanted him to.  
  
"Ta-kun..."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
I don't know how long I laid there. Things seemed to be pretty blurry for a while after I woke up and talked to the two that claimed to be Haruko's sisters. I don't know what happened, but soon after I woke up I felt a stinging sensation float up my neck.   
  
Hours seemed to pass, and I can't say what exactly transpired. All I know is that I woke up with Taika and Elsar half-naked in my arms. I blinked, and turned completely red. I don't know exactly what happened, but when I looked down at myself... my shirt was off. I looked around, and found evidence showing that our clothes had been stripped forefully off ourselves- there were nail marks on Taika's arms showing where she'd fought having her shirt pulled off.   
  
I put my head in my palm and started to cry, the tears coming without much effort. I don't know how long I laid there. All I know is that after hours of weeping like this, I finally stopped whenever I felt a pressure against my cheek. The tears started to slow, and I continued to weep.  
  
"Ha...Haruko?" I asked, then blinked away my tears and saw that it was Elsar. The girl had tears in her own eyes, and I noticed with some difficulty that there were marks around her top. I blinked when I realized whatever our captors had... tried to do to her.   
  
"Elsar, I-I'm..."  
  
"Don't worry, sis will find us," Taika said, wiping away tears from her eyes as she made her way towards me. I placed my hand against her face and rubbed away the tears.   
  
"How can you be sure she'll find us, Taika? We couldn't find her in the first place anyways!" Elsar said, her voice growing quite angry. Suddenly, she also noticed the marks that matched her own, and she embraced her sister, the two of them venting and crying. "They... you too? Naota, did they-?"  
  
"I don't think so," I said, inspecting my bare arms and chest. No signs that anything had been done to me. But why would they do nothing to me, but hurt Taika and Elsa? Unless... I held my hands up to my face and pressed my forehead gently.   
  
There was a bump directly on it. A very large one. I blinked, then looked upward towards my forehead, and saw a large spike coming out from the middle of it.   
  
"NO... NO!" I yelled to no one in particular, panting from worry as I felt the shape emerging from my forehead. "No... no... not again. No one can ever touch me there except for Haruko... Haruko-!"   
  
Something overcame me, and I found myself stroking my forehead, crouching in a fetal position. My voice gave out, although my lips still kept mouthing, "Haruko..."   
  
*********************************************************************  
  
It's amazing really, the way that curry can become spicy if you just add the right ingredients. At least, if you add the right ingredients, then give them to someone you care about. And watch them flop around in the chaos and destruction.   
  
"Ta... Ta-kun..." She whispered, then grinned with a cat-like smile. "You want some spicy curry? You've got some coming right up." Hakuro revved her Vespa, and pushed it with her full body weight towards the pull of her wrist. She rubbed her fingers, feeling the nails chip off as she flew faster.   
  
"I'm going to kill you, Ta-kun," Haruko vented, then grinned softly. She peered through her goggles and noticed that the Galaxy Space Police Headquarters were becoming closer to her in distance. The red-haired female smiled.  
  
"Next quarter, 0-10, Haruko Haruhara vs. the Space Police. Up at bat, Haruko. One to center field predicted." The woman jumped up from her sitting position and plucked her guitar off her back, making sure she had her pick ready for the final solo.   
  
The alarms started to go off inside the building, the Space Police finally noticing the threat of the single woman with her tuned guitar.  
  
**********************  
  
"Furi Kuri! Attention! This is not a drill! Furi Kuri!" Superior Raharu yelled over the intercom, her bunny suit becoming wet with sweat as she yelled.   
  
"Stupid, Haruhara," she whispered to herself, watching through the monitor. "You allowed yourself to fall for an Earth boy who just might have been the real Atomsk. And you didn't even get to kiss him like I did. I'm still one up on you, Haruko. And if you think you're going to take this man, this robot-producing factory of yours away from us, you're wrong."   
  
Raharu grinned then began her yelling once again. "FURI KURI! ATTENTION! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! FURI-"  
  
**********************  
  
"... Kuri?" Taika asked aloud, waking up again. This time, her modesty had been somewhat taken care of, as she was at least dressed in a Space Police bunny suit. She nudged Elsar awake, who also had been dressed. Naota was nowhere to be seen, but Beeta had reappeared. "Elsar! Furi Kuri! Sister must be here!"  
  
"Sister? What sister?" Elsar groaned in her sleep. Taika slapped the sister in front of her silly with the back of her hand. Needless to say, Elsar woke up rather quickly.   
  
"What was that for?"  
  
"You forgot Haruko-san already!"  
  
"No I didn't!"  
  
"Yes you did!"  
  
"Why you-"  
  
"Ladies!" I yelled, looking around as I tried to locate the source of the noise. Both Taika and Elsar blinked and stared at me. "Ladies, we have to-" Suddenly my head felt as though it was on fire, and I held my hands up to my forehead, realizing that the spike that was on my forehead was growing into a full-blown hand. I blinked when I recognized the shape forming.  
  
"C-Canti?"  
  
"Naota?" Taiki and Elsar both pointed at me, then proceeded to have evil gleams in their eyes. In that one unresistable moment, I knew that they hadn't been lying. They really were Haruko's sisters.  
  
"CANTI!" I yelled with all my might, feeling the spike on my forehead pull out and stretch into an arm. Elsar and Taika watched me.  
  
I could almost smell the salty air of the riverbank that went around the place I used to live. I closed my eyes and pictured Mamimi sitting on the bank, smoking one of her cigarettes.   
  
Cigarettes could give you brain cancer.   
  
I felt something rip from the middle of the void, give birth against the rubber flesh that rippled on my forehead. I shuddered as hands, then arms, then a full body ripped itself apart from me. I fell upon my knees after what seemed like eons, my mind completely blank.  
  
"Naota?" Elsar asked, knocking on my right temple without moving a muscle. "Naota-kun, are you awake?"  
  
Red light filled the air, and I blinked until the world came into focus. Rips were playing left and right, and unconciously I realized that somehow, Taika's hands were playing a green base. My eyes unfocused, then cleared to reveal Elsar strumming a violet electric, her pupils almost white with energy.  
  
Suddenly the lead came into being, ripping an A chord straight into the heart of the rumble. My eyes became wide as a memory lept from the past into the present, a blue strummer in her hands.   
  
"Ha-Haruko-san," I stuttered, trying to get the entire word out.  
  
"Sorry I'm late, Ta-kun!" The redhead angel yelled, grinning like the Cheshire cat. She raised her guitar over her head and proceeded to slam it into an invisible wall that only I could see, making shards of nothingness float out of existence.   
  
***********************  
  
"FURI KURI! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! FURI KU-" Raharu yelled over the intercom, her voice becoming hoarse. A white dash blew by her field of vision, and she was cut off. The siren kept going, even though   
  
"Shit." The bunny-suited woman gritted her teeth and straightened her leotard around her thighs. She smiled, the reflection red in color. "Haruhara, you defied your duty to the Space Forces six years ago. And now you're trying to take back your Pirate King who came searching for you."  
  
"It's time to pay the toll-keeper."  
  
With that, Raharu started to type in numbers on the piece of technology she'd happened to swipe from that Terran swampball. What had they called it again? Oh, yes. A cell phone. She closed her eyes in ecstacy for a millisecond, remembering that last kiss with the boy. Takkun. That's what his name had been. And right now, he was a full-grown man.   
  
A handsome full-grown man.  
  
She'd enjoyed ripping off his clothes, as well as Haruhara's siblings'. They were turning into quite the women. She doubted that Haruko even knew of their existence. After all, when a woman falls for a Pirate King... all else is secondary in her mind.  
  
"Hello?" the voice at the other end asked. Ruhara grinned, licking her lips like a cat with a bowl of cream.  
  
"Medical Mechanica?" Heavy cream. With the foam straight on top.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Your eyebrows are showing."  
  
****************************  
  
"HARUKO-SAN!" I yelled, my voice finally having collected enough strength. Canti stood beside me, his arms and body glowing a surreal geranium red.  
  
Suddenly she was coming towards me, her lead guitar thrown behind her. She stopped short a couple of feet away, her white boots becoming scuffed from the braking. She looked at me with those yellow-green eyes and I nearly melted from wanting to touch that ivory skin.  
  
"Ta-kun. You've gotten taller. Must've been from all that spicy curry I gave you."  
  
The wind seemed to kill the noise, Elsar and Taika blinking as Haruko and I stood outside of time in front of each other. Canti and Beeta's screens flickered at one another.  
  
"I came for you, Haruko Haruhara. I came because I still love you."  
  
Another ripple of silence played with its g-string.  
  
"Would you love me even if I was to use you again, Ta-kun?"  
  
I nodded. She took a step towards me, her eyes boring into mine.  
  
"Even if I made you run into the spicy curry fields and pluck the C chords until the end of time?"  
  
I nodded. Another step.  
  
"Would you still love me even if I was on the run from the Space Forces that I once worked for and gave me the powers I had? Would you still love me if I tried to destroy the Earth again?"  
  
I nodded. She looked at me up and down, and I could've almost sworn I saw a drop of moisture coming into the corners of her eyes. At least, that's what I thought I saw. But that couldn't be. This was Haruko-san.  
  
"You've grown up," she whispered, then threw herself into me, wrapping her arms around my middle. I held her tightly against my chest, my arms reaching around her as she tilted her head on my shoulder. I opened my eyes after the initial embrace. She looked up at me, and I bent forward into a kiss.  
  
There are no words to describe the soma, the essence, the alpha and omega that flew through me. I felt the universe expand and collapse with every micrometer of her lips that moved against my own. My head felt like splitting, but I held onto her fiercely, kissing her back with all my inner turmoil, love, and hate.  
  
I don't know how long we stood there, intertwining our lips around each other's. All I know is that when I finally broke out of my reflection, I wasn't Naota anymore. Naota was gone. She looked into my eyes, and we stood there for a moment.  
  
"You've got your guitar?" she whispered to me softly. I nodded. She smiled, her canines well-pronounced. "Then let's start the concert, shall we?"  
  
"The concert?" I smiled at her. "What concert?"  
  
"The one you're going to start, Rock Star. The one you're going to be my lead guitarist for."  
  
"Me? A rock star?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Suddenly something passed by my eye. One of the shards of nothingness that Haruko had broken in her effort to meet my trysting arms. And I gasped.   
  
My hair was no longer brown... I was no longer... I wasn't me. I didn't look like me- My hair was now a blinding gold, and my eyes were red as fire. I blinked, and the shard disappeared into chaos once more. I looked at Haruko, and she merely grinned, pulling away from me. She walked over and calmly picked up her own Axe, shouldered it, then raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Are you ready for the solo, Rock Star?"  
  
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*grins* I warned you this would be crazy, didn't I? But no... no one ever believes Saberpilot. ^_^ Anyways, drop me a line/review and let me know what you think. And if you think this is at all finished yet, you have another thought coming. ^_~ 


	4. Runaway

A/N: ^_^ I'm glad you're all enjoying this so far- I know that I'm having a rocking good time writing it up- this has got to be one of my favorite pieces at this point.   
  
I'm working as fast as I can to get out at least one new chapter per week for everyone who's been kind enough to read/review this ficcy. And trust me, it'll be more than worth it to stick around. ^_~ At least, in my opinion.   
  
And without further ado, onto the fic whose universe I do not own!  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Space. The culmination of all the things that you can think of that turn a pre-adolescent into a crazy, hormonal teenager. Sex, Drugs, Rock'n'roll.   
  
It was his job to be the 'square', the 'stone brick' of the universe- or, at least, of Earth. His prime directive- to destroy through force or subterfuge the disorder that was caused by too much time listening to the slowly twisting element that was rock. To destroy the disorder brought on by original thought, by sex and drugs, and overall- space.   
  
Medical Mechanica was his boss; he had no other. It had been almost a decade now, yes... a decade, since he'd come into the service of the technological giant. Before that, he'd been an agent of the government. But the government had very little power when held against the giant irons. It had been why he'd gone over to them in the first place.  
  
That, and having underlings.  
  
He sat at his workstation, in front of all the glistening monitors. He sighed. There had been no trace of the nearly-adult Naota, and it didn't surprise him. They should have been prepared. After all, when a Terran chooses a Space Force woman over his planet...  
  
Well, that was neither here nor there. All that mattered at the moment was warning the Space Forces that Earth's little Pirate King had escaped them. Let the people out there handle it.   
  
He pushed the paper and pencils away from himself and looked at the monitor on his desk. It was hard to believe that it had been six Earth years since the 'Mabase Meylee' incident, as he had coined it. And now here they were, six years later, and the kid still hadn't chosen his planet. Instead, he'd chosen HER. Stupid kid.  
  
Feet were placed on the desk, and he grinned. Any day now, he'd get the call. The call that told him Haruko Haruhara had been captured and was pleading for him to come and rescue her. He smiled and placed his hands behind his head.   
  
Suddenly, the phone on his desk began to whine for attention, and the suited man complied with its wishes, picking up the reciever.   
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Medical Mechanica?" It was a woman's voice- a mature woman at that.   
  
"Yes?" He answered, smiling with a Cheshire grin. This could be good.  
  
"Your eyebrows are showing."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
I kept pulling at my newly-golden strands of hair, watching as Haruko tried to figure out exactly who these two girls accompanying me were. Taika and Elsar leered right back at my redhaired rock star, giving mirror expressions to hers.   
  
"So... who exactly are these two, Ta-kun?"  
  
"Ta-kun? Who's Ta-kun?" Elsar asked. She pointed at me, then bored her eyes into Haruko. "This is Naota."  
  
"Ta-kun."  
  
"Naota," Taika said, reinforcing her violet-haired sister.  
  
I sat and watched as they continued at it for the next ten minutes, realizing exactly how much alike the three were. Finally, I stood up and held out my hand to the three. "Ladies?"  
  
"Ta-kun?" "Naota?" Three voices asked in unison. I sighed, then raised an eyebrow. "Either name works. In any case, I'm the same person. Now why don't you all just introduce yourselves and we can get on our way."  
  
"But she doesn't even know us!" Taika bawled. Elsar raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, then looked at me.   
  
"It is kind of strange that she doesn't seem to know us. You'd think she'd at least know we exist..."  
  
"Huh?" Haruko asked, stopping mid-way from picking her nose. God, I loved her. "What are you blabbering on about?"  
  
"They're your sisters, Haruko," I explained, sidling up next to her and placing my arm around her shoulder. The red head looked at me, then the violet and green-haired girls in front of her. Then back at me.   
  
"Wha-"  
  
"We're not full sisters, silly!" Taika said, holding up her index finger. "Half sisters. You have the same mother as us."   
  
"Same mother?" Haruko raised an eyebrow, then disentangled herself from my grasp. She walked over and blatently grabbed Taika's chin, inspecting the girl as one might a prize piece of stock.   
  
"Mmm-hmm. Mmmm-hmmmmmmmmmm... Yep. Nope." She muttered as she inspected, turning Taika's jaw back and forth. She then proceeded to let go of her chin and look the girl up and down, first at her arms, then her legs... then her bosom...  
  
"HEY! What are you doing!?!" I asked Haruko, my face turning bright red, matching my eyes.  
  
"Inspecting her. To see if she's really related to Haruhara." She sniffed her at the neck, then took a step away, pondering. She imitated Sherlock Holmes, placing a bubble pipe in her mouth and walking back and forth. She then pointed her pipe at the green haired girl accusingly.   
  
"What is your name, young lady?"  
  
"Haruhara Taika!" The girl spat back. I blinked, when I realized that the younger woman had her hands on her hips, ready for a fight. Oh shit.  
  
"And what do YOU know about rock and roll? Have you made Furi Kuri to MY Ta-kun? And if so," she wore a cat-like grin, "did he like it?"  
  
"HARUKO!" I yelled, realizing that as I did, images of myself lying abed with a naked Taika were running through my head. I held my hands over my eyes, closing them, but the image didn't go away. Haruko looked back at me, and she grinned. She then looked back at Taika.   
  
"I'd believe that you're Haruhara. You can make my Ta-kun blush." She winked at the emerald haired girl, then rushed over to Elsar. She was about to pull her chin towards her for inspection, but instead found herself looking into a pair of dark eyes.   
  
"Ah-hah. So this one has a temper, does she?" Haruko sidled to the side and looked the girl up and down. She then took a step back. "Name?"  
  
"Haruhara Elsar."  
  
"Ta-kun? Have you made furi kuri with this one?"   
  
Again the images came unbidden into my mind, only this time it was Elsar lying naked in my arms. I put my hands up against my golden-fire hair and felt my cheeks turn redder than my blood-red eyes.   
  
"You pass. Sisters, eh? Didn't know my mother liked to get around that much."  
  
"Well, Mother was a spacer," Taika said, winking. "And she liked those that were willing and ready. We knew that this one was yours, though- knew as soon as we met him. Or at least, I did. I knew because as soon as I saw him, I wanted to make sweet Furi Kuri with him."  
  
"Well, he is quite a man," Haruko said, winking at me. I blushed, but this time it wasn't as I had blushed when Taika and Elsar had mentioned me. I felt the warmness fill my cheeks, my lungs, my body... and in my lower recesses. Haruko grinned at my slight level of embarrassment.  
  
However, it wasn't as bad as it might have been... before I left. It shocked me to realize that the feelings I was having no longer bothered me as they had earlier. I felt as though it was perfectly natural to want, to strive, to long for the moment of furi kuri, of taking Haruko into my arms and pulling her close to my body. I held my head in my hands, confused for the life of me what was happening.  
  
"Space," Taika, Haruko, and Elsar all said at the same time. Haruko grinned, cheshire-like. She then walked over to me and put her hands on my shoulders. I looked up into her yellow-green eyes, not quite understanding.  
  
"You meant it when you said you'd give up on Earth to be with me?"   
  
I nodded, the warmth of her presence filling me, completing me. I looked into her eyes deeply. She smiled at me, her lips centimeters away from my own, tantilizing.  
  
"Then don't worry, my Ta-kun." She teased me with a whisper onto my lips, then eventually pulled me into a deep lipped embrace. Eons went by as we rushed into each others' open mouths, our hearts racing with our spirits in their drive to complete each other. I felt my hands move down her back, to her sides-   
  
And I was no longer afraid.   
  
I held her by her hips, and pressed her body close to mine, feeling the small of her back through her thick mini dress. I felt her own gloved hands rub up and down my back, and I felt as though I could go further than this-  
  
But she stopped me, pressing me gently away from herself. We both came up for air, and I felt the sweet release of my lungs. I smiled down at her, and realized for the first time how... young she looked to me. So young... so ready, so willing...  
  
"Not yet, Ta-kun," she said, looking at the ground, then back into my eyes. "First things first. We have to get out of here," she said, gesturing with a quick eyeglance to the surrounding gray walls. She smiled, and turned her head to Taika and Elsar.   
  
"Well? Are you two ready?"  
  
"As ever," Elsar answered, holding her violet electric ready for action. Taika stood nearby, holding her emerald bass with both hands. She nodded, her green bangs shaking as she did.   
  
"Let's go give 'em a concert they'll never forget, sisters."  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
The eyebrows would protect him. They had to. He could not- absolutely could not, fall prey to the wild whims of space. Raharu had warned him that if his eyebrows were not on, that he'd no longer be fit to work for Medical Mechanica.   
  
He sat back in his comfortable chair, feeling the folds of the fabric brush against the black material of his dark suit. His suit. His business suit. The suit that Medical Mechanica trusted him to wear whenever they sent him on business.   
  
The suit he'd earned, in his opinion.  
  
He'd left his assistant behind to take over his duties while he was gone. She'd also gotten the instructions that if he came back and was not- fit for duty- that she had permission to shoot him on sight. Right in the head, if necessary.   
  
God, he loved her like a daughter.   
  
She ship lurched, and he cursed himself once more for having agreed to this. If there was anything he hated, it was space travel, he'd decided. Damn ships took too long to travel in space. And he didn't want to be contaminated.   
  
He brushed a hand through his short red hair and stood up, awaiting the door to open so he could meet this... Space Police Forcewoman Raharu. He slicked back his eyebrows with a licked fingertip, then straightened his collar. Milliseconds later, the hatch opened in the ship.   
  
A familiar-looking woman stood in front of him, garbed in a white bunny suit and red tie. A pair of matching bunny ears pronounced themselves from her head.   
  
Quick as a wink, he held out his guns towards the woman.   
  
"HARUHAR-" Suddenly he noticed that the woman was holding up her white-gloved hands up in the air and staring at the man straight on.  
  
"You're... not Haruhara?" He held his guns steady, ready for anything.  
  
"Oh, I'm Haruhara, but not in the sense that you understand. My name's Superior Haruhara Raharu. I'm the one that called."   
  
"You look exactly like-" He flipped his guns and placed them back into the innards of his collared jacket.   
  
"I know. That's one of the things I discussed with you, that I wish to explain. You see... the Haruhara you know and the one that actually is are two different faces."   
  
"Two different faces?" He raised one of his eyebrows and regarded her with sarcasm, crossing his arms. Red hair. Green eyes. How could he be sure...  
  
The woman bent forward, exposing the innermost part of her chest, and that's when he noticed- there was a black bunny-shaped mark on the upper rise of her left breast. He pulled back and fixed his collar, then beheld the woman anew.   
  
"So... you were telling the truth."  
  
"I wouldn't lie- I'm not human."  
  
"I see."   
  
He stood back a moment, then looked at her. The woman in the bunny suit made a quick half-bow and then held out a gloved hand towards the inside of the Space Police Headquarters.  
  
"If you don't mind-"  
  
"Certainly," He said, following her with a smile on his face. Time to find out about the real Haruhara. And about the fake he'd been fighting for years.  
  
Damn Haruko...  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"Okay. Canti? Ta-kun?" Haruko looked at me and the robot, and I nodded. I walked over to the blue robot and looked into his large television screen face. I then looked back at her, and recieved a large wink and blown kiss.   
  
Feeling renewed, I looked back at my old partner and held out my hands to him. Canti scratched the back of his head, then tilted it to the side. A large question mark shone itself on his screened face, and I half-grinned.   
  
"It's me, Canti. Ta-kun. Naota. You remember me. We conjoined once- you helped me become Atomsk. Remember? I know I look different now, but it's me." I held out my hands to him again, and suddenly he remembered, grabbing my hands in his large metallic ones.   
  
I felt my hands slide into his, and the familiar feeling of being sucked into a wormhole was remembered by myself. I closed my eyes and let myself be eaten by his robotic body, feeling the wormhole eclipse my being.  
  
Bass string. Guitar pick. G-rip.  
  
His teeth enclosed around me, and I started to feel the giant plug drill into the back of my head. Memories, unbidden, came to me of the last time this had happened. However, this time, it felt... right. I let the drilling proceed.  
  
One, two, three, four- the beat of the drummer counting out the time.  
  
I looked down at my hands in the emptiness that was surrounding me, and saw a pair of red metallic paws. I smiled, then looked off into the distance, where I saw Haruko smiling... almost content.   
  
"You ready, Rocker boy?"  
  
I picked up the Axe that she'd left for me, all those years ago. Somehow, it felt... right in my hands. As I touched it, I watched it go from its normal white and blue into a dark red color. It glowed surreally, then pulled out into the mighty Axe I remembered carrying all those years ago.  
  
"Shall we open with a grind or a slide?" Taika asked, her eyes wild with excitement. Beeta the robot sat watching, her screen entranced by what was going on.  
  
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.  
  
"I say we give them a show we never forget," Elsar grinned, her smile reminding me all too much of her older sister's. I stood back with my legs firmly planted, ready to rock out loud. I felt the fans already screaming for their opening act.  
  
"Time to rock and roll," Haruko- my Haruko said, smiling as she hefted her own guitar. We stood and faced the roaring fans of the Space Police walls, and I remember I smiled, my heart being lifted with the guitar solo that my Haruko started.  
  
Goodbye, Naota. Hello, Renegade.  
  
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R&R! Please! ^_~ 


	5. Paint It Black

A/N: Thank you for all your kind words- I'm hoping that you'll enjoy this and the last chapter- ^_~ Which I promise to be out next week. If only I could get my PPG chapter so I could upload it soon... :)  
  
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"So you see," Raharu said, pointing out the cellophane diagram yet again, "I am the original Haruhara. Haruko is merely copying me."  
  
"Right." He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.  
  
"Space, officer, space. The corruption of the youth. The unsurmountable height of sex, drugs, rock'n'roll. Even to a child, these things would take their toll."  
  
"Wait a second- I don't understand." A pause. "You're saying that Haruko- doesn't actually look like this? That she's just copying you?"  
  
"Precisely," Raharu continued. "She was six when she first came out into space. Scared little thing, she was looking for her mother. Well, as these things usually happen, she wound up in my office." Raharu fixed her bunny ears.   
  
"I was the first humanoid she'd seen since she left that stupid planet of yours-"  
  
"Wait a minute. Haruko's from Earth?"  
  
"-please hold all questions until the end," Raharu said, holding up a collared hand. "She came from Terra and didn't want to go back. An orphan, apparently. So, I offered her a job. But she didn't think that people would respect a six year old."  
  
"So you- you caused her to look like yourself?"  
  
"-I am not finished yet. No, she chose to look like me. Just as she chose to forget that she'd ever come from Earth. Space corrupts even the young, and when their hearts are fertile like hers, it's easy to make the change. No, her appearance became mine because she wanted to be a grown-up. She forgot her past, what she'd looked like... her real name. So, I gave her these things. Unfortunately, some things backfired."  
  
"She went after the Pirate King."  
  
"She wanted to be the best Space Force Police Officer she could be. Unfortunately, I knew as soon as she met him what would happen."  
  
"She fell in love."  
  
"She was attracted to it just because of her very nature- but what she found wasn't the real Pirate King, just a repository left by his soul. She didn't realize that the real Pirate King had disappeared years ago."  
  
"So she went to Earth to find him."  
  
"Conciously, yes. Unconciously... she missed home."  
  
"And Naota?"  
  
"The reborn Pirate King. He's already manifested his full abilities once. What Haruko doesn't know is that he's only half of the puzzle."  
  
"Half?"  
  
"When the Pirate King decided to die, he felt that it would be fun to make himself more powerful in his next life. So, he split his powers between two fetuses on a backwater world."  
  
"I do not agree with your feelings there, but continue."  
  
"Naota and Haruko. Both born the same year, the same day- even the same moment- to two different women. One mother died, the other ran away and left her daughter to an orphanage."  
  
"So... Haruko's really... only eighteen?"  
  
"Precisely."  
  
"And she's the other half to the Pirate King, I'd assume."  
  
"Correct."  
  
"Why haven't you done anything else to stop Naota now that you have him in quarantine? I'm sure that robot of his has shown up by now, not to mention Haruko."  
  
"I'm counting on it."  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Space. Time. Rock and Roll. These things can change a man into something that he can only dream about- the sexual prowler, the random gigolo, the whipped and distressed slave.  
  
I was Renegade. I had all the powers expressed milliseconds earlier in my thoughts- I was powerful and strong.  
  
They'd called me by another name before I had come to space. Naota. But I no longer recognized that name.   
  
It had been a name that I had once called my own. But I had not earned it... not like I had earned the name I had now.  
  
Renegade... how I longed to make it Haruhara Renegade- to be the husband, the love slave, the lead guitarist in Haruko's band. I smiled inside the void that I inhabited inside of Canti, waiting for my moment to emerge from this void and become what I only had once before- Atomsk- or at least, what Haruko had called Atomsk.   
  
It hadn't been Atomsk, though- it had been Renegade.  
  
And the Renegade always needs a partner.  
  
I started to knock a few chords in order, letting them hum themselves to light. A, B, C sharp. A, B, C sharp. My Axe vibrated accordingly, letting the sweet notes vibrate in perfect tune. Taika ripped a slightly different melody on her electric- starting out with an E chord and working her way to an A. Elsar concerned herself with the bass notes.  
  
And my Haruko... MY Haruko... she played the best of all those among us- her soul became a song, a tune, a rip played while she stood on the yellow Vespa that she'd brought with her.   
  
At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then the gray panes about us started to ripple- first with light waves, then faster and higher with more of a tsunami effect. Faster, harder. Faster, harder- FASTER, HARDER-  
  
Finally the gray panes broke, and we were relieved to find ourselves in the middle of space, floating amongst the stars. I felt the darkness surround me, but I kept on playing on my Axe, grinding to the melody. I closed my eyes, letting the absence of light enclose me in its embrace.   
  
I looked towards Haruko, who motioned towards myself and her sisters towards a reddened star that upon second glance, turned out to be a floating building of some sort. Taika and Elsar nodded, the violet-haired one dragging along the robot Beeta, who continued to stare at the stars amid all this confusion.   
  
I pulled Taika into grabbing my robotic arm, while Beeta transported Elsar. Haruko, as usual, revved forward with her gorgeous yellow Vespa. I smiled in my void, then rocketed towards the red-colored building, following my love towards our first concert.   
  
And what a concert it would be.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"No Furi Kuri. I mean it," Raharu said to the underling, smiling as the young Space Patrol woman bobbed her head, making her bunny ears tilt slightly. The underling then ran off, away to do her duty. Raharu shook her head, then grinned at the suited man in front of her.  
  
"Underlings. You love them, you trust them... and you could kill them sometimes, couldn't you?"  
  
"Yes," he said, smiling. He picked up the glass of amber-colored liquid that she'd given him a few minutes ago. "There's one back at home, on Terra, that is," he explained, "That I love like a daughter. She's to shoot me on sight if space gets to me in the least."  
  
"That's nice," Raharu said with an understanding nod. She then took her hand and placed it on his shoulder, grinning as she did. Her red bangs fell in front of her face.   
  
"I know a particular activity that I like to participate with my underlings in," she cooed to the suited man, moving closer to him, her movements rather preditorial in manner.  
  
"Superior Raharu," he said in a questioning manner, raising a redhaired eyebrow. He gave a small grin, and placed his free hand lazily upon his right knee as she crawled upwards from his left. She smiled and licked her lips in a feline manner, then placed both her front 'paws' upon his suited chest.   
  
"Furi Kuri is for the public. Now let me show you how the classed of the public 'perform'- how we find our freedom in the stars." She rested both her knees on his own, her bosom now directly in front of the Mechanica Officer's face. She bent downward and kissed him passionately on his pale-skinned lips, making his entire body tremble.  
  
His eyebrows... his eyebrows quivered with excitement, being full of a passion he thought he could never feel. Moments later, he felt a pull on his tie, and he looked up, being released from the kiss. Raharu raised a red eyebrow towards him, and he smiled, his whole being filled with excited energy. He looked towards the window, then back towards the woman kneeled directly in front of him.  
  
"Don't... shouldn't we help them for when they come and try to attack? You know they will," he pointed out, although his heart was not entirely in his duty for once.  
  
She stared him down with her pale green eyes and pressed him back into his chair, pressing her lips against his softly, then with a fierceness that drove him insane.   
  
Heaving with anticipation, he loosened his tie, and pulled at his collar.   
  
"You're right... we'll deal with them later. But for now-"  
  
He pushed her to the floor, and revelled in the warmth that enveloped his entire being and hers, joining together in the seraphic rock trip.   
  
**********************************************************************  
  
We broke the glass in front of us with little or no effort involved. Things weren't too bad at the moment- it looked like we'd actually be able to possibly defeat the evil Space Forces once and for all- I didn't know why we wanted to, but I felt this rightness about the entire thing.  
  
That, and a giant spiral boring into the back of my head.   
  
Taika and I jettisoned through space, spinning in a counter-clockwise motion as I used my jet-fueled feet to propel us forward. Haruko was revving her Vespa as she drove forward, common sense second to her primal instinct. Beeta lifted Elsar through space, the robot's screen still registering blank for the reasoning as to why it was being ordered to take the violet-haired bassist towards the Space Forces headquarters.  
  
The main part of the building came into view, and I smiled inwardly. Soon. Soon, Haruko and I... her sisters, Canti, Beeta, the universe, Terra- (inwardly I wondered when I had stopped thinking of Earth as Earth and now as Terra)... everything would be peaceful and free. Even old Eyebrows would not be able to do a thing, not be able to touch a hair on sweet Haruko's head.   
  
I smiled as we encountered the first barrier to entering the building- not that it was much of a barrier. A force field surrounded the entire building. Not that it hindered us much- one quick crack from Haruko's blue bass was enough to shut the entire system down.  
  
After that, it was pretty much a quick shot by myself every time we ran into a Space Force guard that might have been wandering the halls. Ten, twenty, thirty... it didn't really matter. Between just myself and Haruko, it was barely a trial of any kind- Canti's body, and Haruko's guitar were just too powerful for anything to really stop us.   
  
Finally, after much rocking and rolling, we came upon the main doors that would lead to the control panel. Haruko kicked herself off P-chan and let the vehicle fly until it hit a nearby wall. Elsar freed herself from Beeta and stood by herself. I let Taika jump down from my hand and hold out her electric, ready.   
  
We stood in front of those red doors that were painted black and held out our Axes in front of us, ready. Haruko's beautiful green eyes blazed with insane fury. I smiled.   
  
Taika and Elsar's emerald and violet eyes shone with just as much enthusiasm as their sister's, both of them ready for a good concert. I readied my own Axe, creating a guitar pick in my left hand out of the thin air of space that surrounded me.   
  
"Shall we knock or run in?" Elsar asked her older sister. Haruko answered with a toothy grin.   
  
"Why give them time to clean themselves up? That takes away from all the fun!" she smiled, then held out her arm towards me.   
  
Smiling like a drugged man, I strided forward and pulled the door from its hinges, Canti's arms immensely stronger than a normal human's.   
  
Haruko leapt into the room, her guitar tuned for a rock show beyond belief.  
  
But a stage is not what we found.  
  
Instead, what we saw were a pair of bodies quickly re-arranging themselves on the floor, covering themselves. A cursory glance told me all I needed to know; Mechanica and the Space Forces were in bed together. In more than one way.  
  
"Well, well, well," the woman in the quickly-fixed bunny suit said, her ears lopsided slightly. She stood up and regarded us with her light green eyes. She looked at me, and raised an eyebrows.  
  
"Ta-kun, I told you not to get involved with this girl," she told me, a smirk on her face. "Remember? She got in trouble with falling in love with a boy from Earth. How can you trust her after all she's done?"  
  
I couldn't answer with words, being restricted to Canti's limited expressions, but I answered anyways, taking a step forward and putting my large hand on my love's shoulder.   
  
"I see." Suddenly a familiar face stood by her, and put his own hand on the bunny-suited woman's shoulder. "Funny that you came back, Haruko. Then again, one always comes home to where they first became what they are today."  
  
"Funny how you made furi kuri to him," Haruko retorted, glancing at the man with the superimposed eyebrows. "Funny how you haven't told him that his eyebrows offer him little protection out here."  
  
"W-WHAT?" The man said, his red hair standing on end. The Mechanica agent released his hand from the woman who bared a remarkable resemblance to my Haruko. "You mean- I've- I've been infected with Space? That I'm going to become- Oh God..." He hustled to touch his forehead, worrying and rambling insanely.  
  
"Nothing comes without a price," The Space Forces woman retorted. She then looked at me, then stopped glancing around to rest her vision on Haruko. "Does it, Haruko?"  
  
"If you're referring to falling in love with Ta-kun, I have no qualms about it," my angel responded with enough acid to trip me to heaven. "Other than that, I don't know what you're talking about, Space Square."  
  
"Name calling. How quaint. Then again, I really shouldn't be surprised- you coming into your womanhood and all."  
  
"What are you fronting about now, Raharu?" Haruko asked, holding her blue guitar out towards the Superior, unafraid.   
  
"No fronts on this stage, Haruko. No fronts at all. I just find it interesting that a Space Force 'woman' would fall so easily for a twelve year old Terran the way you did six years ago. That a Space Force police woman can't remember whenever she was a child."  
  
"That was years ago." I looked down at Haruko, and realized that for the first time, my love seemed nervous about something.  
  
"Not many years, Haruko. After all, you're only eighteen."  
  
"Oh, right. Only eighteen." Haruko rolled her eyes. Taika and Elsar stuck out their tongues at the Superior, ready for action with their own musical wonders.   
  
"Oh, I'm not joking, young woman," Raharu said, leaving behind the suited man in her wake. She walked up to my angel and took her jaw into her hands, Haruko staring back into a pair of mirror-green eyes. Raharu grinned.  
  
"Why did you fall in love with a twelve year old, Haruko?"  
  
"It was Ta-kun."  
  
"But you were attracted to a twelve year old, Haruko. Shouldn't that tell you something?"  
  
"Not especially."  
  
"And you can't remember anything before coming out into space."  
  
"I'm a woman. Give me some slack to forget about the things besides pleasure in life."  
  
"No, Haruko. You're forgetting something very important, dear Haruko. Do you remember whenever you first came out into space, twelve years ago?"  
  
"I've been out here longer than that."  
  
"I think not, my cherry girl," she said, moving forward towards my rocker girl. She rubbed her cheek along Haruko's, then looked at her eye-to-eye, only a centimeter away from my love's. An evil look came upon the bunny-woman's face, and I paled.   
  
"I think not, my Makoto." With that, she leaned foward and gave Haruko a deep kiss. I was too shocked to say anything. What... what did she mean by all this? Haruko was Haruko- not a Makoto or anything like that- she was my space-driven, love-making, furi kuri-  
  
Space rippled.  
  
My eyes grew wide as Raharu stepped out of the deep kiss she'd given Haruko. Somewhere an orchestra of electrics sang, and I watched as the space around my Haruko- My Haruko-  
  
Space rippled once again.  
  
In milliseconds, her beautiful red hair flickered out of existance, replaced by plain brown tresses. Her gorgeous green eyes became a deep blue, and all the years in her expression- all the years of her womanhood- disappeared.  
  
"Ha-Haruko?" Elsar gasped.  
  
The young woman where Haruko had stood turned and looked at me, her eyes wide with fear. Her lithe body bespoke younger years than Haruko had ever known. I gazed into her eyes.   
  
"I- what- I..." she faltered, then fell onto her knees.   
  
Eyebrows stopped panicking and began to laugh. A cruel, cutting laugh, like the razorblade chalked with rust. Haruko- or the girl who had been Haruko looked up at me, tears in her shocked eyes. Her pupils dialated, and she looked up at me with... fear?  
  
Haruko... my Haruko... I kneeled down next to her, and suddenly I heard a voice speak.  
  
"I-" the same voice from moments earlier- sweet and pure, like a newly dewed summer morning. Innocent, like the first string played by a rock band. She gazed up into my- Canti's, red screened face.   
  
"Ta-kun, I- I didn't know... Oh, God, I didn't know," she said, falling against my enormous metal knees, and beginning to sob. Raharu smirked in the background, placing her hands on her hips and grinning.   
  
"Well. I told you, didn't I? All those years ago? And just a few seconds ago. You're no Space Force Policewoman, Makoto. And yes, it is Makoto. At six, you ran away from that orphanage, heading out in that Vespa you found parked outside. You found me, and I took you in. You decided that you wanted to be a woman, so you grew up and forgot your past."  
  
"It- it can't be true. No- it can't be!"  
  
"Finally, the first half of the Pirate King reincarnate has been vanquished," Raharu laughed cruelly as she went back to her suited boy-toy and placed her arms about his neck. His eyebrows bristled. She stared then, at me, and smiled.   
  
"Like falls for like. Typical. A Terran girl falls for a Terran boy. Drawn together by their shared past, they make sweet furi kuri in the moonlight. How pathetic."  
  
My anger began to mount. My Axe vibrated in my free left hand, the other on Haruko's- Makoto's- shoulder. How dare she? How dare she make my Haruko cry?   
  
There was no doubt in my mind that this brown-haired mirage was my Haruko. Brown hair, red hair- green eyes, blue- eighteen or thirty, it didn't matter. She was still MY Haruko. And that was all that mattered. My Axe began to pulsate in my hand.   
  
How dare she? How DARE she make my lover cry?  
  
My mind felt like it was ripping into two pieces- one filled with anger, and the other filled with hate. They joined together at the last moment, and I literally felt myself ripping away- falling away from Canti's body. I reached further into myself, and finally pulled away from him. I looked and saw Haruko still weeping upon the robotic shell. I went to place my hand on her shoulder, and realized-  
  
I was glowing.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Well, well, well... a plot! *gasp* Fic to be finished next chapter- ^_~ Just like the real FLCL, there is a slight plot at the end. O.O... In any case, just one more until the big concert- stay tuned! 


	6. Hell is for Children

A/N: Well, it's finally finished. And my muses can finally leave me alone. On this project, anyways.   
  
*glares at muses Genesis and Verdell... both of whom look conveniently away*  
  
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"Wh-What?" The suited man with eyebrows whimpered aloud. Taika and Elsar both made an "Ooo.." noise. Haruko just turned and looked at me, then gasped.  
  
Her blue eyes opened wide, and she beheld me as I stood before her. A man of eighteen, a Renegade, glowing red with an Axe in his left hand, and his right on her shoulder.  
  
God, I prayed I was worthy.  
  
"Ta-Takun?" She asked, her eyes- her gorgeous eyes blinking away tears.  
  
"It's Renegade, but yes, it's me," I whispered. I leaned down, and helped her up with my right hand, letting it slide down from her shoulder to her hand. When she stood up, I kissed her briefly on the cheek, then looked into her eyes.   
  
"Ta-Renegade," she whispered to me, as I continued to hold her hand. "I- I didn't know. I honestly didn't know. Do you care?" She looked at me, and held up a hand to my cheek. "Do you care that I look like this? That I'm... not what I used to be?"  
  
"I would love you no matter what, Haruko."  
  
"Call me Matoko," she grinned. She turned to face Raharu, who stood with her arms still around the suited Terran. Har-Matoko held my glowing hand firmly, and stared the woman down. "So? You think this mean's you've won? I still have Renegade."  
  
"Renegade? Huh. Nice name, Space Newb." She let go of her boy-toy, pushing him to the floor, where he twitched in horror of his 'contamination'. Placing her hands on her bunny-suited hips, she grinned. "So you're perfectly fine with your old identity, Makoto?"  
  
"I am," she said, glancing at me, then staring the woman down once more. "But I'm not fine with what you want. You can't have Renegade."  
  
"But he's already mine," she smiled, walking towards us. "Can't you see? Without his other half, Renegade boy- Ta-kun - is only as half as great as he could be. That's right, cherry," she smiled at Haruko, licking her lips, "Your boy there's not as all-powerful as you think him. He's only half of the puzzle. And the other half will never be awakened, so it's safe to say that the universe is safe from the Pirate King's power ever again rising."  
  
"So... our sister is a brown-haired Terran?" Taika asked Elsar. Her violet-eyed sister gave her a look, then rolled her eyes.   
  
"Obviously. It's normal there. She hasn't truly become a Spacer, yet, since she only took on someone else's form. She needs to find herself before that happens."  
  
"And how will she do that? She needs to find it quick if she's going to stop Mechanica."  
  
"What are we, chopped liver? Get your electric ready."  
  
"...Oh!"  
  
"...idiot."  
  
The two girls smiled manically and held out their guitars, both of them with wide grins on their faces. Makoto blinked, and looked at them both.   
  
"But- how can both of you even stand the sight of me?"  
  
"You're our sister. Spacer or Terran, it doesn't matter. You're all the family we've got. Besides," Elsar winked, "We can't leave Naota in his hour of need, can we? A handsome man always needs a good back up pair for him."  
  
Makoto's eyes nearly popped from her head, and she grinned. Suddenly, a spark of her previous self started to envelope her, and I smiled, kissing her on the neck gently. She then grinned, a cat-like smirk that was completely her own, no matter what she looked like.  
  
"So you think you've beaten me just because I'm a Terran? I think you're forgetting something, Raharu."  
  
"Oh? And that is?"  
  
"No matter what an artist looks like, they never lose the jam." Makoto pulled at the guitar strap around her bosom, and her blue bass clicked back into place. "And as any guitarist will tell you, a good rip is hard to forget."  
  
The red-haired Superior gritted her teeth, then shook her head. "Heh. And who do you think taught you those rips?"   
  
"Actually," Makoto started, looking into my glowing red eyes, then back towards Raharu, "no one." She closed her eyes, and something occurred to me.   
  
"The other half of the Pirate King...? Makoto?"  
  
"Renegade?" She looked into my eyes, deeper. Suddenly, I heard a beeping noise from behind me, and I noticed Beeta standing behind us, her screen glowing blue.  
  
"What- no. There's absolutely no way. NO!" Raharu yelled, picking up the nearest thing- the eyebrowed man- and throwing him towards us. She walked up to my love and stared her down. "I will not allow this- you are not supposed to be here- this is not supposed to happen!"  
  
I dodged the thrown man, then turned to look at Beeta, then back at Matoko. My love's blue eyes were a-light, and I suddenly felt my stomach do a backflip. In milliseconds, a bright green replaced her blue irises.   
  
"Makoto?" I asked.  
  
She smiled, and rubbed her thigh against my side.   
  
"Don't worry, Renegade rock star. I'm still here. And in a few minutes, none of this will matter. It's time for a new rock and roll dynasty to be born, the likes have which have not been seen since the seventies. And it's time that they were brought back."   
  
With that, she gave me a grin, reminiscent of the Haruko I used to know, and turned towards Beeta, her eyes a-light. Her hair whipped about her shoulders, turning it shades of a deep ruby as it flickered left and right. She held out her hands to the robot, Beeta responding by holding out her own.  
  
Space snapped.  
  
An audible 'click' was heard as she was swallowed up by Beeta, turning the green robot's metallic skin a deep blue. She rose inside that robot, and I felt my heart leap within my chest.  
  
"Makoto-"  
  
The glow from its metallic skin grew, and seconds later I found myself staring into a pair of radiant blue eyes- so beautiful because they matched the surreal sapphire light that reflected off Makoto's own skin. With my free hand I touched that beautiful blueness, and pushed myself into a kiss with her.  
  
Anything I'd ever done, anything I'd ever felt, was inconsequential against the force, the magnitude, the earthereal power of that lip-locked embrace. I found my entire being lost in the light that was Makoto- our red and blue lights intertwining into deep shades of violet.   
  
"No... this can't be! NO! THIS CAN'T BE!" Raharu screamed somewhere near oblivion, her voice sounding as though it came from the back of infinity.   
  
"Ehhh...?"  
  
"Hey, Rock Star! Strummer Sister! We want a floor show!" Taika and Elsar started to yell, whooping and hollering. Makoto and I broke from our kiss, our spirits settling into one another. I rubbed her nose with my own, and she grinned.  
  
"Used to be a day I wanted nothing more than this power. Used to be a day I thought it was him I loved."  
  
"But it was-"  
  
She looked up into my eyes.   
  
"It was me."  
  
Realization dawned on her, and she smiled, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. "No wonder, then. Half girl and half boy- that's the only way to make a real Pirate King, isn't it? Well, then, shall we begin the concert, my love?"  
  
"I thought you'd never ask."  
  
I pulled myself away from her, and placed both my hands on the Axe, my left holding the pick as I readied myself. Makoto positioned her own Bass as she readied herself. She gave a quick nod to her sisters, and both of them jumped into the air, ready.  
  
"I will not allow this to happen- Space is not supposed to be about the passion- it's supposed to be about the degeneration, the temptation, the separation of logic from reason. What you're threatening to do will unbalance the entire solar system- no- the entire galaxy! Do you hear me, Makoto? Do you hear me, Naota? It's not too late to change your minds- I'll even go easy on you- I'll make sure they don't kill you too slowly!"  
  
I looked over at my rocker chick, and realized... I had everything I ever wanted. My music, my life, and my girl. That's all I'd ever needed, and now I had it. I shook my head.   
  
"Thanks for the offer, but I prefer free thought to freed chaos!"  
  
My pick was raised above my head, and I ripped it down, pushing against the eons and eons of microbes that resisted my movement. A single note.  
  
The concert began.  
  
We played together, Makato, myself, and her sisters. I don't know how long it went on. The notes went in perfect chaotic order, ripping and grinding up and down into the most gorgeous symphony that I'd ever heard. We crushed in sync and out of it, in perfect timing and against it, pouring our souls into our guitars.  
  
A miracle occured.  
  
They came in hoardes, in droves, in giant masses. The fans, the listeners, the eager ones who strived to feel the bliss brought back to space- yearned to hear the true rock that had been destroyed from the current situation. They cheered, they screamed, they moshed until the early dawn of time and the omega crashed down onto the stage.   
  
I hugged her close to me, and she nodded at me. We picked up our Axes and poured our souls into our music, jumping up from the stage towards the Space Force building that was still around us all. We strummed with all our might, reaching for the sparks inside us that made the music worth it all, made everything worth anything.  
  
I swung the bat.   
  
As I did, I felt the spirit of Atomsk inside me spring away from my soul, as well as the other half within Makoto. We stood there watching as blue and red combined, refined, sculpted themselves into a singular being, a single light that ran towards the Space Forces' building. Raharu suddenly stood in front of that light, holding an electric in front of her, reinforced by a half-stripped man with enlarged eyebrows, who held her sides.  
  
"Come on," I whispered, watching as the guitar threatened to to fend off the glorious beam that Makoto and I had created from our own essences. "Come on-" The beam continued to push against the Superior's musical instrument, her force pushing back just as hard.   
  
I felt Makoto's arms around me, and I pushed harder- all the more harder into the beam's strength. Finally I began to feel some music flowing through me, energy that was unbearable to the Terran flesh, and yet slightly soothing.  
  
I kissed her.  
  
The light that came forth from us overwhelmed her thanks to our sparks of affection. It consumed her, its purple hue overpowering her guitar, making its strings break in two. Her strap burst into threads, leaving no sign that it had ever been whole. And her Space Force outfit...  
  
Well, Adam and Eve may have had no shame in the Garden of Rock, but these two were full of their mortality. His eyebrows came off, and I heard a lamented cry towards the center of gravity for his lost mentality.  
  
I didn't care.   
  
Once the violet light drifted away, it was just her and myself that stood there, our hands intertwined. Taika and Elsar stayed behind, rubbing the two Space Police survivors in their own sin and Classical thinking. Moments later, I noticed that Raharu had been pushed aside, and that the two sisters of my love were now holding the eyebrow-less man in a double embrace. Their hands felt about his chest and back, and they lined his body with their kisses. I almost felt jealous, then realized that I had it worlds better than he.  
  
Shards of the Space Force Police fell into the expanse, their little windows twinkling as they disappeared out of existance. I let my eyes drift from the crystals towards the beautiful rocker chick that was in my arms. I gasped for a moment, then grinned.   
  
"Wha-what's the matter, Renegade?" She asked, her eyes wide. I nodded towards one of the window shards flying by, and she reached out with her beautiful white gloved hand and grasped it, then looked within its reflection.  
  
"Is- is that me?" she asked, and I smiled.  
  
Her true self, the one that space had deemed her symphonic vision, stared back at her in the mirror- gorgeous green eyes, and long red hair- she looked very much as she had, but she now had the body that was truly her own- the one that made her my wonderful Makoto.  
  
"It's you," I whispered back, and I leaned forward and kissed her on the neck, allowing my joy and happiness to be communicated to her in the only way I- my body- knew how.  
  
"But-" she stopped me, pushing my head away from her shoulder. She smiled at me, and grabbed me around my waist, letting her fingers slide until they grasped the bottom. I smiled, and placed my own arm around her, staring out into space.  
  
Taika and Elsar were having the time of their life, allowing their bodies to move freely within the expanse of space alloted to them. The Medical Mechanica agent was shivering, fighting his inner desires, fighting the nature that Space was bringing out in him, and the things taught to him by the Mechanized Terra.   
  
Makoto giggled, and I smiled.  
  
"Does he know how lucky he is?" I asked her. She shook her head.   
  
"Probably not."  
  
"Do you know how lucky I am?" I asked her. She looked down towards infinity, then peered up into my eyes.  
  
"Why, Renegade... Why did you come for me? After the way I treated you all those years ago? I know I loved you, but still... and the way I am now... why didn't you stay safe on Terra and be the civilized man you could have been?"  
  
"Because I like the drug of rock too much. Oh, and I love you," I added, laughing as I kissed her gently on the lips. I raised my free arm towards the space, and laughed some more. "Well... first things first. What shall we do, my rocker babe?"  
  
"I think that there needs to be a little more Jimi Hendrix and some Doors sounding from these stars," she said, leaning into my chest. She then pointed towards Terra. "And some more free minds and thought- no more of this 'space square' business."  
  
"Who... are you calling... a SPACE SQUARE?" A voice asked, and Makoto and I turned in surprise to see Raharu standing before us, barely clothed, but curved and dangerous. She held onto her broken bass, her eyes slitted with agitation.   
  
"No one of importance," Makoto said, stepping forward. She gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then pulled Raharu closer to her by the chin. "Just a lowly spacer wanna-be who belongs somewhere that the Milky Way is the only form of space sensuality." She fluttered her eyes at the Superior, then picked her up by the nape of her neck.  
  
"Get out of town, Kahn of the Ages. Love don't come 'round here no more." Then my love so very gently ripped her head back and threw her towards the galaxy that I knew all too well. She smiled at me, and we watched her red hair fade to black as space overtook her.  
  
Once we were alone for good, after Taika and Elsar had decided to take their boy-toy away towards their own corner of the stellar stage, Makoto and I stood alone with each other.  
  
Time rippled as we finally met in each other's arms, and I knew right then and there that I had never wanted it any other way.   
  
As the stars sang the blues and the planets tripped the light cosmic fantastic, Makoto and I made our vows to each other, being sure to make sure the guitar straps were in place. Playing the melody, the G strings and the A chords, we made a new rhapsody that was all too funkadelic. Sex, Drugs, Rock and roll, it was a melody that even the Bohemian could not have made a Tribute to, or Rage described.  
  
We talked afterwards about where we'd send the new Pirate King when he was born- Pluto seemed too confining, and Saturn was too Classic. We settled on Terra, finally, after realizing that we'd come from there, and we seemed to be two decent rocker kids.   
  
We Raged, we Crushed, and became Queens of the stars, riding into forever on our Vespa of dreams. And all that I can say, all that I can show for my years of touring, is the Rolling Stone of an idea that I always had.  
  
That, and my sweet, sweet love, whom I make Furi Kuri to after every single stellar rock show.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
(fin) 


End file.
